Everything changes, and a greater focus on 21st century, online delivery makes sense. But please, sharpen your focus on first-rate journalism, too.
I will be sorry to see the gold standard of the Associated Press abandoned. A column of Twitter updates on The Star’s website from your staff is not journalism. And the community blogs? I do not care to read that 3-year-olds are taught to evangelize, or that gardens are suffering in the heat. I want news! Even Anniston news.
Give me a pothole report, or tell me about all the sirens on Greenbrier-Dear Road recently. Let me read a weekly column written by various high school journalism students. Do the occasional followup to Sunday’s “Do you have any information about this photograph?” feature.
The Star’s frequent use of the sentence, “attempts to reach [Mr. X] were unsuccessful,” frustrates me. Is it a matter of deadlines? I cannot judge the veracity of the article if I only have the “we said” and not the “he said.” Unless it concerns breaking or urgent news, I’d prefer to read the article in a future edition, when all the pertinent information was gathered and fact-checked.
Finally, the July 15 front-page article “Carding the Vote” took up an entire page of print. Why was such a lengthy article emphasizing Faye Cochran’s concerns about voter fraud printed when she refused to name a single name? If it is not verifiable, is it really news? I think not. The article could have been a third its length, and we would have learned just as much.
Yes, redirect some Sunday-night energy to improving your Tuesday-Sunday editions. You have responsibilities to your readers and to the people of Anniston in general.
RIP, Monday edition. You will be missed.
Patricia Vanderpol
Anniston
